Ottawa’s May 21st Severe Thunderstorm

– May 21st’s Damage within Ottawa. Basically from Toronto to Ottawa, and into Quebec province.

On May 21st a severe thunderstorm hit Ottawa, and the surrounding area, causing severe wide-spread damages in a vast area. The storm came from USA, lightly damaged Toronto, gradually becoming stronger as it progressed closer towards Ottawa and into Quebec. It went from a standard thunderstorm into an overly severe thunderstorm causing horrendous damage causing nearly 200 km worth of damage in its path. 200 KM being similar to an EF-2 tornado with trees being tipped over, roofs being damaged, trees falling on cars, power lines snapping, iron grids breaking, among other insane damages. The damage was insanely damaging to the point neighboring provinces and USA had to help tend to our damages inside and outside of Ottawa. Quebec, New Brunswick, USA, Manitoba, among others. All hands on deck.

I wouldn’t say this is ‘Global Warming’, it’s simply Canada being true to its past tropical self. Canada used to be a tropical place, like Cuba.

– Severe storm alert at 3:18 pm. Poor cell service prevented me from seeing this any sooner. For something we assumed was a standard storm turned out to be MUCH MUCH worse.

I was basically doing my daily rounds getting stuck in a grocer seeing pitch black dark clouds (as night) looming over darkening the scenery. Just pure black….. Day to night, then insane winds, rain, hail (Twoonie shapes; $2), and brutally heavy thunder for a good 5-10 minutes. Lights flickered 5 times over those 10 minutes, probably from all those disconnecting power lines from various neighborhoods happening around for those 10 minutes even being described as a “car wash” type insanity. Broken power poles, trees topples, homes damaged, no power, and other damages. 1-2 weeks without power (two weekends) for various folks.

I was unaware we’ve lost both power, something which I would assume would have been fixed overnight, or the next few nights until I got back home. I assumed it was your standard severe thunderstorm to which everything survived. I would find out we’ve lost power hours later. The next few days were in agony trying to keep my recently purchased chicken cool as to not spoil. Generators on trying to respond to various messages, food cold, chiming in on Twitter to note my safety of no power, and just ins and outs of life and work. Trying to survive on the bare minimum using my phone, flashlight, and the standard non-frigerated stuff to keep sane.

The worst damages were in Stittsville and Hawkesbury.

Don’t let these images fool you. What you may see may be a few branches here and there, giant trees were toppled also. Images I failed to capture because of how sudden they appeared, or how hidden away they are in other people’s properties. Other people also capturing images I failed to capture because of timing, work, and other priorities. Big trees toppling over from over-saturation of soil causing them to tip over.

– Missed a giant fallen tree spotting this second large branch reaching onto the road.
– Various branches across the city and into the province littered about. All spread out.
– (Not my image) – Power lines and poles on top of cars, near cars, and all over the place. Fireworks display for Monday’s Victoria Day celebrations.
– (Not my image) Merivale Mall area, next to a place I used to live. Snapped power poles, power lines, cars pinned, etc. Tons of damages.

Examining Damages During & Following Day:

– Fallen Tree – Merivale/Clyde area. A car was seen going around the tree on the leftern side.
– Tree still there the next day.
– Giant pine tree snapped.
– Various trees leaning on various homes. Snapped, cut, etc. Still somehow with power while those around were without.
– Ferguson roped off for a dangling power line.
– Various tree branches reaching onto the road.
– Tree branches piled up (Blurry)
– Was shown this tree totaling a van having damaged both house and car. These home owners had to be rescued by neighbors, even having to go from the rear of the home to exit out.

Merivale Mall Area Exploration:

I stupidly stayed indoors on Monday having gone out on my Wednesday to check up on the damages. I could have seen more of the damages on Monday. Scouting, examining, and seeing the various progress the brave Hydro-electric workers have been doing. The following images are from Wednesday instead.

– Toppled tree on a home. Simply exploring various neighborhoods, some I failed to capture images of.
– Broken branch (common visual).
– Tons of branches.

Navigating through those unpowered intersections was a pain in the rear. I’m genuinely surprised I wasn’t run over, killed, or injured in any way, shape, or form. I actually came out of it alive, I’m happy on that thought. It was strongly advised if you did not have to go for essential travel to simply stay put. I can see why. I had to, for blogging purposes…. I went on a Wednesday.

– Merivale Mall area, an area I grew up in as a kid. Many stores came and went with the various eras. I remember Gym Jam, a play area for kids. A&W (where a guy appeared like a villain in an Arnold movie about school scaring me as a kid). Snapped power poles.
– Imagine this horrifying scenery placed across the city. What made this so bad was how wide-spread and brutal these damages are, especially in a ‘car wash’ type severe thunderstorm. Pitch black dark sky moved out as quickly as it moved in within 5-10 min.
– Damage may have been more to do with wire tension than pole tension.
– Utility Trucks hanging around cleaning up.
– Various people observing the damages, the clean up, and the progress.
– Cleaning up. Going from one pole to the next, and back.
– Lifting up the poles, undoing the wires, the attachments.
– Downed power poles, bent, fallen, and in various conditions. Smashed traffic lights.

For an area I used to live in a lot has changed, yet hasn’t. I used to live just at the edge of the visible gas station recalling fond memories of buzzing the gas station intendent at the car wash area those many years ago. Playing in and around this area, witnessing KLM 747’s taking off and landing, having Rosko the dog running across the street causing chaos, playing Thunderbirds (toys), Power Rangers, among other craziness. Even getting severely bullied in the area by a nearby school (not the high school) to which my Transformers toys would get stolen, destroyed, and having tons of amnesia moments. One out of body dream, one car hitting a light post (next to the leaning power poles in background)………

The memories. Even recalling Gym Jam, a place for kids. It’s all in the past now.

– Cautiously positioning the pole to chainsaw it, unattached the accessories, eventually nudging the pole in a parallel position as its snapped foundation.
– Removing the bits, undoing the red strip, and removing the log.
– Chainsawing the poles to bits.
– Various spectators, action, and even a pole still stuck on a car. Various poles were cautiously positioned off the vehicles, freed, and cleaned up.
– Closer look at the intersection with the damaged lights. A lady was noted having fled her car to return the next day over to lock her car. Her panic was two-fold for double-panicking.

Went around and closer to the Viewmount-Merivale intersection to see damages as closely as possible. Good thing too, I came across this nice retro vehicle. Highschoolers praising the owner for having a cool car.

People were also horribly wound up with the occasional honks every 3 minutes. Tensions high, nerves unsettled.

“Get off the fucking road!” – Angry car driver.

Temper, temper…. No power for a few days (1 week) causing tensions to be high. Detours, traffic jams, among other craziness.

– Damaged traffic light, on-lookers, blocked off roads, and just messiness.
– Repositioning poles to be cleaned off (left side of image). Possible vacuuming in the center, and various clean-up on right side of image.
– Two lanes down to one, by utility worker’s instructions. Damaged intersection.
– Undoing the bits, lifting the power cables off them, cleaning.
– Even if these wooden poles are reinforced by metallic shielding they still snapped. Most likely wire tension, if anything. Power cables being sails in the wind.
– Alternate view looking back

Random employee from Costco noticing me taking pictures trying to strike up a conversation. Tried my best, I was just out of it. Telling me about the damage, how we both found it. I tried noting how other areas were damaged while not really hitting the same tone. She wandered back towards Costco. The damage is indeed insane, especially next to a place I used to live at, just out of shot in the above image on the leftern side on above and below image with tons of branches in the front lawn.

– Zoomed in view looking back at the insane damage.
– Car with a damaged driver-side window.
– Another reinforced pole, damaged. Nearly 200 KM/h winds. Insanity.
– More broken trees on top of homes.

Did not regain power on this day. Was the next day over (Thursday at 6 pm) I regained my power. Only managed to catch up on Twitter, share a few things, read up on others, view Obi-Wan Kenobi episode one on that night. Being cranky as heck on Saturday with all the catching up to do. Caught up on Azur Lane’s recent event dealing with the Royal Navy. Obtaining most units, Medal, among other items.

It was interesting to note how places inside and outside of Ottawa were effected by this brutal severe storm. Into Carlton Place, a place I used to also live at also without power. Every house I knew had no power (minus the eastern side of Ottawa). This storm had a wide reach, major widespread damage making it the worst storm than any previous ones. The sheer damage in a spread-out manner. Numerous downbursts, 200 KM/h winds, and just insane debris.

Bonus Images:

– Utility trucks parked at a strip-mall. Kinder Bueno visible while also admiring the numerous Utility vehicles probably enjoying a nice cold beer. Hopefully. They deserve any reward for busting their ass for us folks. Even those ungrateful Bayshore folks constantly whining on Twitter, and those Ottawa Reddit morons bringing up the Trucker Convoy, ungrateful of their sacrifices. (Friday Evening)
– Dark areas along Baseline, past Algonquin College (Friday evening)
– Dark areas with some lit up areas on Baseline heading and turning towards Iris. Businesses across Cemetery were lights-out; In the dark. Various neighborhoods around Ikea also without power on Friday, hopefully back by Saturday night and into Sunday.

Lastly, a comical laugh at r/Ottawa for being fragile bunches of snowflakes pretending they’ve been used, abused, insulted, and hurt in some way, shape, or form. While checking r/Ottawa for power outage news (my mistake) I stumbled across fragile SJW morons pretending ‘Canadian Freedom Convoy’ folks hurt them along with the Power Outage when it was only the power outage. Even then, grow the fuck up. Such whiny babies on the reddit always wanting to get offended about everything happening to them.

– Ottawa Reddit being the fragile morons that they always are pretending they’re some helpless victims of a fictional abuse. “clownvoy Survivor 2020′, even pretending they’ve been abused during the ‘Canadian Freedom Convoy’. This is why Ottawa is always laughed at on international stages, special thanks to Ottawa Reddit.

To add to the r/Ottawa’s convoy crocodile tears, even the hostess of CFRA radio noted why truckers and ice suppliers wouldn’t jump onto help Ottawa with supplies….. IT’S BECAUSE YOU TREATED TRUCKERS LIKE OUTCASTS, TERRORISTS, AND NAZIES when they wanted to help Canada liberate itself from a corrupt Dictator Trudeau. Same with your overly equally as narcistic Jim Watson. Fuck them both. Genuinely. All praise goes to the truckers and the utility workers for busting their asses with 4 hours sleep (or none at all) meanwhile the media lies, slanders, and twists everything. Fuck Watson, fuck Trudeau… They haven’t helped ONE BIT when it came to the power outage while your actual citizens do the actual work.

ALL HAIL THE UTILITY WORKERS! No, really! They busted their asses losing sleep, their sanity, and their safety to get our spoiled asses back our power while they suffered the same fate for their own households. While people complained on Twitter they went around fixing everything, especially in the last 2018 tornado. They cleaned up the mess, had to put up with the various dangers while Trudeau & Watson both paraded around doing jack shit (Trudeau stayed silent). Utility workers slept 4 hours, had to put up with obnoxious media outlets, cleaning up debri, replacing the damaged poles, had an outpouring of support from the locals…. On the flip side? Watson & friends having photo ops here, photo-ops there, Wallah!~

“WhY wOn’T aNyBoDy TaKe AdVaNtAgE oF tHe SiTuAtIoN bY pRoViDiNg SuPpLiEs DuRiNg a CrIsIs….” CFRA (& media), you treated truckers like shit so shut the fuck up. Give the utility workers their reward, wise up, and pay your respects. Asking for free supplies from ice makers when you treated truckers like outcasts. The gull. The nerve….. Honestly. Ottawa Reddit, you aren’t helping either. Stop being a clown show you Muppets. Fake crocodile tears. Honestly. (r/Ottawa was the worst mistake I’ve ever made since the blackout. Fucking clowns.)

That storm was insane. That is a storm I’d expect mid-summer, or somewhere in Cuba. Lights flickered 5 times over time, one lady panicking wanting to go INTO the storm to her car. Some of my coworkers managed to keep their powers, others regained them sooner than others. My area regained on Thursday at 6 pm while no food was lost in my household. A coworker managed to get their hands on ice which they probably no longer needed on that Thursday. I told them we regained power then. No food was lost, just some sanity, some sleep, and missed messages online. Backlogs created being unable to Youtube, blog, among other activities. No Anime, nor drone flying. Just work and skimming my phone for news. With how everything was without power it simply felt “hollow”. Not sure how else to explain it, just “hollow” when you know power can be back on using flashlights to navigate at night. Everything during the day, nothing at night. Just game for an hour and sleep earlier.

Goes without saying I would have also shared the power outage news sooner on my blog, though probably better it was shared later than sooner with more images. Just an interestingly awkward situation to be in disconnected from everything. Half upset, yet half “you get used to it” type vibes.

I’ve survived the 90’s Ice Storm, was in Europe for the 2003 blackout in Modra (Europe’s Heatwave), survived various other brutal storms, West-side Downburst, various snowstorms, the 2018 tornado, and now this 2022 Severe Thunderstorm. I need to make myself these badges. Thanks for reading, see you in my other backlog blog postings.